The Landscape

The natural horizon has always held a magnetic attraction for the human imagination. Landscapes change all the time – as the weather and the light change – and yet they’re totally timeless. The 22nd edition of COS magazine travels across sceneries that offer alternative viewpoints. So, go outside and see the world from a new angle this spring.

The Landscape

The natural horizon has always held a magnetic attraction for the human imagination. Landscapes change all the time – as the weather and the light change – and yet they’re totally timeless. The 22nd edition of COS magazine travels across sceneries that offer alternative viewpoints. So, go outside and see the world from a new angle this spring.

This season’s men’s collection has a casual informality, and such a strong sense of awareness

Hunting for dramatic scenery......with a Hollywood location manager

Reaching wide and stretching......further in the fashions for today

A superstar garden designer......who is changing the way we plant

Imagine a spring collection with a natural flair for distinction and detail

Out in the desert with the artist who uses mirrors to make magic

Where wardrobe elements meet......somewhere between earth and sky

RIVER by Viviane Sassen, artist

“I grew up on the River IJssel in the Netherlands. Our house stood on the quay, overlooking the river and the flood plains. My teenage bedroom looked out on the river and I spent hours and hours gazing at the water running past, the boats,the willows on the other side, dreaming about the future. At certain times of year the river would overflow, and water would spread onto the land for as far as I could see – it was as if I lived on the shores of an inland sea. The skies were often grey and moody, as they often are in the Netherlands. But on clear days colours were abundant, and as our windows looked out to the west, we had mesmerising sunsets. At the time, daydreaming was my favourite way to spend time; I was hooked on my fantasy. It was as if the waking world and the dream world did not have clear borders, and were equally important.”

WISH YOU WERE HERE — A running series of scenic anectodes1 / 4

MOORLAND by Robert Macfarlane, landscape writer

“I can see the scene as clearly as if it were last week, though it was 35 years ago. Hot sun on the face, and the cry of curlew from the shoulder of moor across the valley. The heather is in pink flower and there are patches of late yellow gorse, so it must be July or August. I’ve just found a roe deer antler bleached white by the sun and weathered smooth, and I am carrying it as if it were treasure or a rare coral. A horseback-brown burn runs a few yards away, pooling at the turn of a bend, and tiny trout flicker among the shadows. It is – and was – a dream-vision of a Scottish day of quiet miracles, spent among modest hills, and a brief return to a childhood I was lucky to have.”

WISH YOU WERE HERE — A running series of scenic anectodes2 / 4

VALLEY by Miranda July, actor and author

“We’re driving up the California Central Valley and the landscape is constantly shifting, as it does when you move through it. My son is in the back seat, frantically trying to draw pictures of the road as it changes; every few seconds he rips off another sheet of paper and tosses it forward to me: scribbled olive orchards, herds of black-and-white cows, trucks hauling picked cotton. “There’s so many things!” he yells. “This is hard!” Any second he’s going to realise it’s impossible. But for the moment he’s still totally going for it and it’s an epic, glorious feat – like outrunning a car, outflying a plane. Tears are coming.”